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Reflection on critical reading and thinking skills
Assessment of critical thinking skills
The language of composition reading writing rhetoric chapter 1 summery
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Recommended: Reflection on critical reading and thinking skills
Goal 1: Critical thinking: By the end of the first year of composition, students should o Use writing and reading as resources of inquiry and communication o Recognize, understand, summarize, and evaluate the ideas of others o Understand the power of language and knowledge o Understand the interactions among critical thinking, critical reading, and writing
Goal 2: Rhetorical knowledge: By the end of the first year of composition, students should o Address the needs of different audiences o Address the needs of different purposes o Understand varied rhetorical strategies o Use appropriate format, structure, voice, tone, and levels of formality appropriate to the rhetorical situation o Understand the relationship between the writer, reader,
The essays of Carr and boyd are all structured fairly similarly. The author explains the problem and then describes the effects the problem results in, also known as the cause and effect organizational strategy (“Introduction to Rhetorical Strategies”). One example of this organizational strategy is in Nicholas Carr’s essay when he discusses the Internet and how it is affecting him personally, he shares, “They [the Internet] supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation” (Carr 315). Carr makes it clear that the cause of the issue in this quote is the Internet, and the effects that the Internet have on him specifically,
Jack Shakley’s “Indian Mascots- You’re Out” published on the op-ed page of the LA times, he impacted readers about the argument over professional and college sport teams whose mascots are using Native American names. Shakley is the former chair of the Los Angeles city/county Native American Commission. The author describes the history of using Indian mascots and how it hurt a group of people. He wants readers to know that it is necessary to remove Native American names and mascots from college and professional teams. Jack Shakley uses three strategies to present his argument to show his attitude to remove Indian mascots in teams.
Northrop Frye is one of the most influential literary critics of his time, and today. Indeed, one of his most applicable articles was published in 1986, titled, “Don’t You Think It’s Time to Start Thinking?”. He uses several key points to argue that most of society does not think critically and that the skills are purposefully not being taught to keep society compliant. This article, which criticizes how students are taught to think, is still very relevant today. While some may argue that the curriculum has changed over time to incorporate more of critical thinking, that is still not the case. Frye’s article is pertinent even today, especially with the inception of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test. Society still encourages reading
"most students are already rhetorically savvy but unaware of their critical processes..." Author Jane Fife puts the three rhetorical analysis pieces to work, ethos pathos and logos, in an attempt to teach rhetorical analysis in a classroom. Fife uses a collaboration of all three types of rhetorical analysis. While the author does make good use of the first two pieces of rhetorical analysis, Pathos, and Logos, Fife strays away from the use of Ethos in her article. Fife applies the rhetorical appeals of Pathos and Logos to teach rhetoric to her class and the reader. However, her use of examples in a classroom backed up with little evidence to prove her authority surrounding the subject causes her readers to doubt her claim that Facebook and
On a daily basis, we as humans try to make other people see things from our point of view and we do so using persuasion. We unconsciously do this every time we speak because most of our actions are persuasive in nature. There is not any way to communicate without using rhetoric or “being rhetorical.” I find rhetoric to be a very frustrating word because the word has so many different meanings. That it makes it hard to get a grip on what it really means. The word rhetoric means the art of convincing or influencing others whether through words or images to support a specific perspective. Rhetoric works in all interactions with others as it helps teaches a person to think logically, to discover wrong and weak arguments, to argue for or against
Looking back at my rhetorical analysis in writing 150, to sum it up, it was horrendous. It became exceedingly obvious that I had skipped the prewriting step. Forgoing this step caused choppy sentences, multiple grammatical errors, and horrendous flow. The rough draft ended up looking like a collection of jumbled up words. The first attempted felt so bad, I started over entirely. After the review in class, I used the examples to focus my ideas and build off what other people had done. For example, the review helped me to clarify my knowledge and use of Kairos. Once done, it was peer reviewed by my group again. All the other group members commented that I had good ideas, but bad flow and grammatical errors. After revising their respective points and
“Necessary Edges: Arts, Empathy, and Education” is an article written by world famous cellist, Yo-Yo Ma. In this article, Yo-Yo Ma identifies and discusses the role of arts in the world, stressing the point that these arts are a necessary element in the education system. Ma believes that the skills learned from these arts, are in fact, “essential” to the kind of balanced thinking that is needed in today’s world. Throughout this article, Yo-Yo Ma brilliantly portrays his thoughts, and gains the support of his audience through the use of ethos, logos, and pathos, while also maintaining a clear and concise stance.
As indicated by studies from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, students fall short when it comes to critical thought and reasoning (Jasparro, 86). Because of the current classroom practices of rote memorization, “students are generally deeply habituated to passivity and low-level performance,” reports Linda Elder, executive director for the Center for Critical Thinking, who promotes the integration of critical thought into current curriculum. “Most [students] have no conception of what discursive reasoning is. Most have spen...
The first writing project I was assigned in this class was an analysis of the film, Gran Torino. During class, I learned there was so much more to the movie than what we see; there was a meaning behind every little thing from the clothes to the hair to even the cars on the side of the street. It all meant something. The key features of an literary analysis include “an arguable thesis, careful attention to the language, attention to patterns or themes, and a clear interpretation (Norton Field Guide 85-86).” Critical thinking is an important skill, not just behind a desk, but also in the real world. The second writing project was a workplace writi...
English Composition II has unexpectedly improved my writing into an academic level. As I studied various English reading and writing courses, this class “English Composition II” did not immediately caught my eye. However as I researched about the concepts of this class, the decision to make was not so difficult since I was lacking in critical thinking and the interpretation of works. Also as a Business Major, it made sense that the subject of English would be of interest to me and as a career requirement. During the first weeks, I thought that I would be fully prepared for this course after taking an accelerated course in English during the spring semester. However, after attending class for about a month, I certainly did not expect to learn an entirely new process of writing
My third and final source is by Downs and Wardle, “Teaching about writing, righting misconceptions”. The main point of the article Teaching about Writing, Righting Misconceptions:(Re) Envisioning “First-Year Composition” as “Introduction to Writing Studies” is to inform the readers what FYC (first year composition) is, and all the changes needed to be placed in this pedagogy, or teaching to actually be effective in a student’s college life and even after graduation. The FYC has been using the same method of teaching for decades, and most of the professors teaching through this system do not even know half of what they’re supposed to know. Through the FYC, we as students are supposed to learn the basics of writing, but yet there are still issues
I am writing to explain how I have reached one of the learning outcomes for English Composition I. The course has been a great help in becoming a better critical thinker. After completing the course, I can successfully analyze rhetorical situations and make effective choices based on audience, context, purpose, and genre.
I believe it is important for any student who wants to do their best in a class to take a moment to evaluate their own work to determine the rate their writing is progressing and how they can continue to advance their writing. When I looked through my own work I asked myself “what have I learned this semester?” and “what do I still need to learn in order to improve my writing?”. Answering both these questions will help me with my last step of my self-evaluation, developing a plan to learn new skills.
Critical thinking is a significant and essential topic in recent education. The strategy of critical thinking skills helps identify areas in one's courses as the suitable place to highlight, expand and use some problems in exams that test students' critical thinking skills.
The writing process is not a practice that comes easy to all people, especially with students who are below their grade level in reading and writing. Even at the high school level, students still struggle with fully developing their writing. Teachers today are under the constraints of state grade cards and standardized tests which often ask students to write in almost every subject level. Content teachers become frustrated when they feel like they need to add writing to their already full curriculum. The reality is that writing needs to be taught with content curriculum. Writing takes students beyond the regurgitation of typical multiple choice questions. Writing allows students to prove their understanding of the relationships and complexities of the materials covered.